Real Estate & Mortgage

NAR Promises A Bright Future

NAR - NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® says home prices will recover in 2008 as the for sale properties dwindle in volume, thus causing supply and demand to even out.

“Buyers now have an overwhelming advantage given the wide selection of homes available in many markets,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist. “But with profit margins coming under pressure, homebuilders will limit new construction well into 2008. This should help the overall inventory level to move steadily into a more balanced state.”

NAR says existing-home sales will begin picking up late this year, rising to a total of 6.11 million for 2007 and 6.37 million in 2008. Those numbers are both lower than last year's 6.48 million.

Meanwhile, new-home sales are projected to reach 865,000 in 2007 and rise to 878,000 next year, compared with 1.05 million in 2006. Housing starts, including multifamily units, are forecast at 1.43 million units this year and 1.44 million in 2008, down from 1.8 million last year. 

Wartertown Real Estate

Check out Watertown Real Estate. This little City is rich in ethnic diversity, economic and educational backgrounds along with differing cultures and many amenities such as shopping malls, swimming pools, golf and tennis clubs, skating rinks, athletic clubs, eleven fine parks and public transportation providing easy access to Boston and surrounding communities.

Las Vegas High Rise Condos

Take a look at the new high-rise condos that are being builtand enriching Las Vegas real estate market These are extraordinary luxury condominiums that have views of the entire strip.  The complexes are like cities of their own.

I think what the developers did was take look at the market place and saw the people from around the world  that will come to Vegas and spend thousands upon thousands for accommodations for a week in one of the luxury hotels. Now with the amenities these condominiums offer, the patrons can have their own condo to stay when they are in town.

Great Bosten Real Estate

Here are Two beautiful featured property in the Greater  Boston area are:

Single Family  Home for sale in  Pepperell, MA  01463
There is a lovely four bedroom and two bath home with a huge fireplaced family room. All rooms are with pine classic flooring. There also includes a barn on this beautiful 1.84 acre lot.
Priced at $399,900

Natick, MA  Real Estate 
Wonderful bright and sunny 2 year old Colonial featuring a formal Living Room  and Dining Room with crown moldings. There is a fireplace in the front room which has vaulted ceilings and a skylight. Sliders to a rear patio. Large eat in  Kitchen with a breakfast area. Cherry cab and granite counters. Mud area leading to an oversized 2 car attchd garage. There are 4 bedrooms  on the 2nd level including a master with "2" walk in closets, Master bath with Jacuzzi and a tiled shower. Laundry on the 2nd floor along with a full walk up attic. Make up this 2,968 sq. ft. home. Great spacious side yard.
$734,900

Affordable Homes

This from BankRate.com. Housing is still affordable in the right spots

The article says that Coastal metropolises like Los Angeles, New York, Boston and San Francisco all might be ranked among the most desirable places to live, but they are expensive! Thus home prices make it tuff to find affordable housing.

The article refeences Lawrence Yun an Econmist from NAR. He says high home prices in popular coastal cities appear to be driving a wave of migration to less costly locales, according to , economist at the National Association of Realtors, or NAR. "Californians are buying up properties in cheaper neighboring states. On the East Coast,  prospective homeowners are seeking out property in Virginia and the Carolinas."

It appears  United Van Lines reported that California had a higher number of outbound moves relative to inbound ones for the first time since 1995. For every 44 moves into the state last year, the company handled 56 outbound moves.States with a much higher number of people moving in rather than out included Oregon, Idaho, Arizona and North Carolina.

Overall, housing affordability nationwide is at its lowest point in 15 years, according to the NAR. In December, the percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 14 percent, according to the California Association of Realtors. New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and increasingly, South Florida homes, , according to Yun, are also progressively unaffordable. The most affordable markets, by contrast, tend to be in the Midwest.

4th Quarter Homes Sales stay blistering

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said rising interest rates dampened the sales pace in the closing quarter of last year. “Mortgage interest rates were at the highest level since the third quarter of 2003,” he said. “At the same time, we’ve seen strong double-digit appreciation in home prices, so a modest slowing from record sales was to be expected. The good news is that home sales are being sustained at historically high levels.”

The latest report on total existing-home sales shows that nationwide the seasonally adjusted annual rate* was 6.90 million units in the fourth quarter, up 0.3 percent from the 6.88 million-unit level in the fourth quarter of 2004 but 4.7 percent below the record pace of 7.24 million units in the third quarter of last year. The second highest sales rate was 7.22 million in the second quarter of 2005.

The strongest performance was in Arkansas, where the fourth-quarter resale pace jumped 29.8 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2004. Alaska existing-home sales rose 28.4 percent from a year earlier, while Louisiana posted the third highest increase, up 28.1 percent. Six other states also recorded double-digit sales gains from a year ago. Twenty-three states and the Wahington DC Real Estate posted declines, although 39 states set records for all of 2005.

Total existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at the third-highest pace on record in the fourth quarter of 2005. In addition, 24 states showed increases in sales activity over the same period in 2004, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

San Diego homes

Listings of foreclosures, resale homes for sale, classifieds and general houseing news is available at SDREMLS.com

Real estate sales up

Mortgage Rates rise just before mortgage applications rise 7.3%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey.

California home prices up

California Home Prices up 18.1%

The CAR released December home prices. Median real estate sales price for California homes was $474,480, up 18.1 percent in 12 months. The median is the point at which half the sales are higher and half are lower, in this case covering only single-family homes sold by a Realtor. In other words homes sold by owner were not reflected in these numbers.

CAR attributed the upswing in home prices to buyers' concerns about mortgage rates, which have stayed relatively low at about 5.75 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate.

Old fashioned supply and demand won out.

"After peaking in the middle of 2004, the number of homes for sale dropped again last month to a 2.8 month supply compared with 3.5 months in November," CAR Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young said in a release. "Despite having fewer homes to choose from, buyers are becoming more selective and are taking more time before making an offer on a home. The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home reached 43 days in December, compared to 27 days a year ago."

Just North of Sacramento is Shasta and Rocklin California. This area is booming in real estate. Redding is near Shasta Lakes which offers skiing and up the hill snow skiing. The site offers neighborhood and area information.

For more California real estate listings visit here.

Ventura real estate is up

Ventura County home prices gains 25.3 % in 2004.

Real estate in ended at $612,460 in December, up from $488,700 in December.

The California Association of Realtors released the December home prices numbers just rently. The median sales price for California home prices was $474,480, up 18.1 percent in 12 months. The median is the point at which half the sales are higher and half are lower, in this case covering only single-family homes sold by a Realtor.

Ventura real estate
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